Nothrina

Superorder Acariformes

   Order Sarcoptiformes

      Suborder Oribatida

          Supercohort Desmonomatides (= Desmonomata, Holosomatina, Nothronota)

              Cohort (Superfamilies): Nothrina (Crotonioidea, Malaconothroidea, Nanhermannioidea, Hermannioidea);

                             

Common names: nothrine oribatid mites, nothroids, hermannioids

 

Probability of Encounter: medium

 

Quarantine importance: Low.  Most species are fungivore/ detritivores associated with mesic to humid soils, lichens, mosses, sphagnum and freshwater habitats

 

Diagnosis.  Black, brown, reddish, beige, yellowish to pale holoid oribatid mites with the capitulum withdrawn within a camerostome.  Ventral plate sometimes incised (Nanhermanniidae); discrete aggenital and adanal plates often present; 3 pairs of genital papillae; usually numerous pairs of genital setae.  Palps with 5 free segments.  Opisthosomal glands present.  Prodorsal trichobothria lost in some aquatic species.

 

Similar mites.  Hermannioid and nanhermannioids resemble Brachypylina, but have 7 or more pairs of genital setae.  Heavily sclerotized Mesostigmata usually have well developed tritosterna and horn-like corniculi.

 

Ecology & Distribution.  Nothrids, nanhermanniids, and some crotonioids (e.g. Platynothrus) are characteristic of fairly mesic to wet forest litter, mosses, and bogs.  Other crotonioids (Camisia, Crotonia) are more characteristic of bark, epiphytes, and other arboreal habitats.  Tryhypochthoniids can be found in dry (Tryhypochthonius, Archegozetes) or wet litter, and in fully aquatic habitats (Mucronothrus).  Malaconothrids tend to be found in wet litter, moss and streams.  Except in the Crotoniidae and Hermanniidae, most nothrines are all female parthenogens.  Hermanniids resemble early derivative Brachypylina.

 

References

Colloff M.  1993.  A taxonomic revision of the oribatid mite genus Camisia (Acari: Oribatida).  Journal of Natural History 27: 1325-1408.

Colloff M & Halliday B.  1998.  Oribatid Mites.  A Catalogue of Australian Genera and Species.  Monograph on Invertebrate Taxonomy Vol. 6.  CSIRO Publications: Melbourne.

Gilyarov MS & Krivolutsky DA (eds)  1975.  Handbook for the Identification of Soil-inhabiting Mites, Sarcoptiformes.  Zoological Institute of the Academy of Sciences: Petrograd [In Russian]

Hunt G, Colloff MJ, Dallwitz M, Kelly J. & Walter DE.  1998.  An Interactive Key to the Oribatid Mites of Australia.  CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.  (Compact Disk and User Guide).

Lee DC.  1982.  Sarcoptiformes (Acari) of South Australian soils. 3. Arthronotina (Cryptostigmata). Records of the South Australian Museum 18: 327-359.

Luxton M.  1985.  Cryptostigmata (Arachnida: Acari) – a concise review. Fauna of New Zealand 7: 1-106.

Luxton M.  1987.  New mites of the family Crotoniidae (Acari : Cryptostigmata) from northern Queensland. Acarologia 28: 381-388.

Olszanowski Z. 1996.  A monograph of the Nothridae and Camisiidae of Poland (Acari: Oribatida: Crotonioidea).  Genus (Wrocław), Supplement: 201 pp.